The present disclosure relates to mattresses for a hospital bed for use in a healthcare facility. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a mattress or support surface having a unique identifier to identify a location of the mattress within the healthcare facility and more particularly to identify a location of the mattress within a room of the healthcare facility.
Some hospital beds can be configured to communicate information to a nurse call system or to other information systems located within a healthcare facility. Such systems typically include a computer system or other electronic communication system at a nurses station which is remotely located from the hospital bed. The computer system can include a monitor to display information relating to the status of a bed. The hospital bed can include one or more nurse call buttons located on the side rails of the bed and/or on a hand-held pendant which is located adjacent to or at the bed. The patient can press one of the buttons to request or to speak to a nurse or other caregiver. In addition, the nurse at the remote station can communicate with the patient with a two-way communications link including audio circuitry such as a microphone and a speaker located either on the bed itself or mounted on equipment or the wall of the room.
Hospital beds which can communicate with such computer systems, typically connect via a wired connection established by a cable that extends between the bed and an interface unit mounted on a wall or a head wall of the hospital room. Such a wired communication cannot only provide for communication between a patient and a caregiver, but also provide bed status information to locations which are remote from the bed. Such bed status information allows medical personnel and other caregivers to monitor the status of the bed including the location of siderails, the position of an articulating deck, and the current status of certain bed components such as brakes not set or bed exit system not armed.
For instance, it is also possible for such a bed status information to provide information unique to a particular bed frame. Identification information can identify the model type of the bed frame, the serial number of the bed frame, and its functional capabilities.